Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 01 Ch. 16

King Goldeagle asked, "Why do this?"

Eldar looked at him, "That's easier to answer with a much smaller audience, I would suggest, myself, my wives, Jarron, my father, and Grand Cleric Silver Moon plus the two of you and your advisers for the side discussion. However, if you would indulge me on one matter.

I told the 2 Grand Clerics that they should fund the construction of the church in this new village. That the church should represent all Elven deities, not just the two. If you're not interested in the answer to that question then we could move on and I could get with all the Grand Clerics later and explain."

The Queen looked at Eldar, "I would like to know why."

Eldar nodded to her, "I neglected to mention to you I'm very observant and I paid attention to my Elven theology class. Sehanine Moonbow was not the only deity at work that night; she just represented them. My personal history is tied to the crescent moon; to be specific the double crescent moon.

The Crescent Moon is the symbol of her husband Corellon Larethian, who covers both magic and warfare among many others--Blade Singers. The lady deals with divination and protecting the dead and is the patron to Moon Elves; which our children will be Moon Elves.

With the way, our bloodlines work when mating with a Half-Elf of Moon Elf origin. She said something about releasing the spirits from the sword and only leaving behind the pieces that contain the powers. This was in line with the Lady of Dreams.

Then there were the fertility issues that are in the domain of Aerdrie Faenya. Add a touch of 'fireballs' and the playful way she went after Eagle-eye, the bad batch of infertility potions, and side effects on the stuff being left behind speak to the God of mischief Erevan Ilesere. While the pursuit of love falls under the goddess Hanali Celanil domain.

The God Rillifane Rallathil is the deity of nature and protector of the woodlands, revered heavily by Wood Elves and Wild Elves. My mixed heritage fits in well with him as they overcame my mixed nature. I had a private vision or meeting with him yesterday concerning facts surrounding my mother Elara Strong Oak and House Silvertree.

Those details are not relevant to this discussion but it does speak to more than one Deity being involved when I see 2 in 2 days. My plan to repopulate the destroyed Elven forests, find a balance in keeping the forests while growing a village, and the immediate threat to Wood Elves' survival means the messages that were delivered to the 2 Elder Councils probably came from him.

Then we have Vandria Gilmadrith, the daughter of Corellon Larethian. She covers war, justice, and grief. The Gods were grieving at the state of our people and war will come eventually. Labelas Enoreth would have had to consent as he is the guardian of time and history and those who seek to alter history. I would say given the events that happened, some history was altered, Your Majesty."

The King and Queen looked at each other and then up at the gallery. The King motioned with two fingers and the 2 Grand Clerics came back down. The King looked at them, "What do you think of his observations?"

They looked at Eldar. Grand Cleric Silver Moon spoke, "His reasoning is...sound.I can find no fault in his logic. We were unaware of his contact with Rillifane Rallathil the day after the wedding. This is new to us."

The Queen looked at them, "When his documents are signed, I have a feeling they will all be signed, you will heed his advice."

The King looked at Jarron, "Gather those he has requested. Meet in the council chambers in 10 minutes. I take it you vouch for all of them?"

Jarron nodded, "I was there. They have at least one deity and probably all of them watching their backs, Your Majesty."

The King nodded and they left the chamber.

Eldar looked at the Grand Clerics, "If they do not already know about your prophecy you can expect the King is going to want to put your pickles on a spit roaster..." They both turned white at the realization of what Eldar meant. "I'm going to try and keep that from happening because it was not the will of the Lady of Dreams.

She gave you 100 years to get your church in order, for my daughter. That does not mean I want to stop him from getting the cutting board and pulling out the knife. He will be livid and he would be right to be infuriated that his spiritual advisers kept this from the King and Queen."

He left the bow and arrows with Hunter, "I will be back after watching a Grand Cleric squirm, a King and Queen get pissed off, and our documents get the fast road to approval. I will also scare the shit out of the royal family as well, just for messing with my human friends."

Eldar smiled at Keyno and her brother. Before heading off down the hallway behind Jarron. Eldar sighed, "Jarron, you know I'm going to be blunt and matter of fact about what we know, what is historical trends, and what is prophecy."

Jarron nodded, "Kings and Queens like it direct like that when not in court. Else he has to deal with court intrigue so asking for the small audience was the right move."

Eldar whispered over, "Does he know about the Knights?"

He nodded. They walked around a corner down about another 50 feet and walked into an open room.

Everyone was present and the King looked at them, "Let us hear what you have."

Eldar nodded, "I want to start with a prophecy, that's why the Grand Cleric is here and we do not need him for everything. I asked the Grand Cleric about a lunar event; a very peculiar event. The double crescent and the Darian Moon being in the sky together and if he knew what that meant.

The answer I got was about the birth of twins, one who would be a great warrior child and one who's the predestined replacement for this Grand Cleric, the one for The Lady of Dreams, his replacement.

Two other aspects of this prophecy part you need to know. That lunar event should be in about 20 months and it starts a countdown for that warrior to enter the battle at the age of 40. Did I get that right Grand Cleric." He nodded. "How long has the Grand Cleric Council known this prophecy and when did you plan on letting the King and Queen know?"

Grand Cleric Silver Moon turned white, "Since 6835, and we were waiting for the lunar event."

Eldar looked at King Goldeagle, "That ends the prophecy part I needed the Grand Cleric to cover. I have nothing else he needs to hear that we have not already talked about. Did you have anything for the Grand Cleric?"

The King got up, "I have a feeling this is going to get worse but I want to remove all of my Grand Clerics at the moment."

Eldar nodded, "I would as well except for the goddess telling them they have 100 years to get their houses in order; close to this event he talked about and he still has work to do to get his house in order."

The King nodded then screams, "I want a meeting with the Grand Cleric Council. There will be a representative for the Royal family at every meeting and any prophecies, especially from the Lady of Dreams, should be made known to us when you know it! Now get out of the Palace until summoned!"

The Grand Cleric ran out of the room and closed the door behind him. Eldar looked at the King "Here is the other part of the prophecy; how I knew to ask him that question. A divination spell was cast on my wife Charlemagne by Cleric Sharlo Stormcloud because of her family having a disposition toward twins.

We wanted to find out if she was having twins. This all occurred before the visions. He cast it and essentially channeled the Lady of Dreams causing him to pass out. The warrior is a Blade Singer and the Priest. Twin girls! Born to a Half-Elven mother with an Impure father.

Now that's a part of the shake-up of the church he has to work on. We know who the mother is, who the father is, and when the event is going to occur. She would be about 3 months early. We also know who her trainer will be and we know where he will be focusing.

One more thing, she also told me I would father twin boys with Annette from our wedding night. She's pregnant with twin boys. That's the end of the prophecy information. Now for the last several millennia the orcs, ogres, and giants get a leader who pushes out to try to destroy us every 100-160 years.

Give or take a decade here and there. That's the end of the history piece of this briefing. Just over a week ago, we met our new human friends; they were a group of 6 took on a contract to kill a giant; the other 4 are dead.

The giant was chasing them while they were on horseback. We went to intercept. The brother came out and told us there was a town under attack up the road. I went toward the town with Fireball, our battle sorcerer. Our ranged warriors worked with the human archer and dropped the giant. Fireball and I went to engage the 24 orcs, 2 ogre lieutenants, and an Ogre Magi.

We recovered a belt with 25 Blade Singer rings on it. I turned in 5 others I encountered when we took out a mercenary band who was trying to get that encrypted message from your scribe spy. I have turned in more of those rings in a few months than most Blade Singers do in a lifetime. 5 was considered high for a lifetime according to Master Trainer Yetto.

I'm a Blade Singer, part of our code is to protect the Elven people. I'm Wood Elf and they are slowly dying off and protection of nature is a part of me, and I'm a Saatorixx Knights responsible for keeping big conflicts from spreading.

I'm a student of history, the loss of 200 square miles of forest in the last 200 years of conflict alone. What I'm trying to reclaim for our people immediately. A student of treaties and getting our allies to live up to their responsibilities in those treaties.

They are supposed to be feeding us information. I doubt they have any information on this latest raid because they have nothing patrolling the area. The farmers we spoke with were furious because the only thing being protected were trade caravans.

They are looking at pulling out when their crops come in. I want to relocate them to the 40 square miles section of the human territory, we will be expanding the village into there and they bring crops, we bring protection and additional credibility. That's the tactical threat assessment.

We need this group to monitor activity, build defenses, prepare our allies, and take out advanced intrusions before they take out more trees and more lives. I told Jarron I would give it to you directly and now you know why I wanted this meeting."

The King looked at Jarron, "Thoughts?"

Jaron cleared his throat, "I saw the bodies of the dead from the incursion from the giant to the orcs, I thought his idea was a longshot at best, but he has pulled up his end and even had some divine intervention to boost the concern into a priority."

Eldar interjected when he pauses, "One thing we do not know is if the Drow might be involved given the spy. I would like myself and my wives some time with your spy to see if we can get him to crack. Just a couple of hours with a black bag over his head tied naked to a chair and I hope to get you some answers.

The thing about him that concerns me is he is male. They are rarely allowed on the surface without a female superior unless he escaped and is working for someone else. We need to know which force we are dealing with. I figure my ladies and I might get through to him where others have failed."

King Goldeagle sighed, "What makes you think you can get through?"

Eldar smirked, "I uncovered the ambush saving my team and got us the name Lord Barimus, I made my observations of the document known to Jarron and my father even when they would not tell me what they were looking for. I pointed him right back to the scribe.

I have two females which dominate male Drow in their society, and if anyone can piss him off enough to spill something it should be us. Besides what would it hurt to give us a chance?"

The King chuckled, "You're a bit cocky, are you not?"

Eldar chuckled, "The first impression I gave Charlemagne when we met. I won her over, it just took a grizzly falling on me..." Charlemagne chuckled and nodded. "Please do not think I'm being arrogant; I argued with a goddess about being made a champion..."

Annette snickers and nodded. "When she told me in that white fog sphere that I was to be the Knight Champion; I never asked to be. I'm just doing what I have sworn to do; as a King Goldeagle, you must know what that's like."

Now he had the King chuckling at him as he nodded.

The King smiled, "Let us reconvene in 2 and a half hours and leave us your documents, you have your village name and mercenary company name selected?"

Eldar nodded, "Quatarsia for the village and Gray Blades because we will always be between what is black and white to hold black at bay."

He chuckled, "An idealist, tolerance."

Eldar nodded, "Correct on both points which is probably why I got this job."

The King smirked, "Jarron let them see what they can do with our prisoner."

Jarron laughed, "Let me take you where you need to go."

Eldar stopped, "One more thing as you are agreeing to put through our mercenary group will you allow us to give the weapons back to the 2 human members we currently have, as they are on that initial roster of 11 members. Annette will not be in the blades due to her lack of fighting skills."

The Queen looked at Heliar, "A diplomat like you, can you make that happen, please."

Jarron led them to the dungeon; he stepped into a room to talk to a jailer to give the instructions on what they wanted to be done with the prisoner while they waited. The door opened a few minutes later, and they headed down a long and winding staircase into the bowels of the Palace and then down a long hall to where a man stood outside an open door.

Eldar looked at him, "You can wait down the hall."

Jarron nodded at the man and Jarron stood at the door and watched them.

He pointed to Annette once they entered the room signaling just the two of them to connect. He pointed Charlemagne to move behind him.

Annette, "Yes."

Eldar, "Have him piss himself."

The prisoner pisses all over himself.

Eldar, "Tell him to give us his mission in common in his head."

The prisoner, "To encode messages given to me by my superior that will be intercepted before they arrive."

Eldar, "Tell him to give us the name of his superior in common."

The prisoner, "She's a consort I meet in the gardens, I do not have a name."

Eldar, "Is she a Drow?"

The prisoner, "Yes."

Eldar, "She works for the Drow empire?"

The prisoner, "No, she wants revenge."

Eldar, "Revenge against who?"

The prisoner, "The Elves."

Eldar, "How do you make contact?"

The prisoner, "I go through at noon when I can. She waits on a bench picking at the flowers when she has a message to go out."

Eldar, "What data is she collecting?"

Prisoner, "Names, troop movements, and important adversaries."

Eldar, "What did the last message say?"

The prisoner, "Troops concentrated on the Drow Underdark border. Heliar Silvertree thinks another Drow invasion is coming."

Eldar, "How does she know Silvertree?"

The prisoner, "She fucked him."

Eldar, "Where do you pick up messages from?"

The prisoner, "Flowerpot next to the bench."

Eldar, "Is that message coded?"

The prisoner, "Yes."

Eldar, "Where are your code books?"

The prisoner, "In hall storage closet down from quarters behind the boxes on the floor."

Eldar, "Is the book warded?"

The prisoner, "No."

Eldar, "Is the book coded?"

The prisoner, "No."

Eldar, "Is the codebook all that's needed to read her messages and add them to the documents?"

The prisoner, "Yes."

Eldar, "You know where to find her? If so where?"

The prisoner, "Yes. If she is not in the garden, she's in quarters in the consort wing of the Palace on the third floor, her room is the last one in the east wing."

Eldar, "When did you and she get here?"

The prisoner, "I was brought in 2 years ago. She has been here longer but was taking too long for reports to get back. They limited communication via crystals because they could be traced by the dragons."

Eldar, "Get back to where?"

Prisoner, "Ok'nar."

Eldar, "Who's lord Barimus?"

Prisoner, "He is master, warlord, dragon."

Eldar, "What is his dragon name?"

The prisoner, "Trobarim."

Eldar, "How many messages have you sent concerning Silvertree?"

The prisoner, "Just one."

Eldar, "Who did she send messages from before?"

The prisoner, "The King."

Eldar, "She sends messages from him often?"

The prisoner, "Every few days for the last 2 years."

Eldar, "Do you have the original messages she gave you?"

The prisoner, "Only in the last few months they are only kept in case of the message getting lost."

Eldar, "Do messages come to you from other sources?"

The prisoner, "No she gets every message to me."

Eldar, "Do you know how?"

The prisoner, "No."

Eldar, "How do you know where she stays?"

The prisoner, "She fucks me once a week for a few hours at a time, my ass gets sore."

Eldar, "What does she fuck you with?"

The prisoner, "She has a fake cock with metal studs in her bottom drawer of her dresser."

Eldar, "Do you enjoy it?"

The prisoner, "Yes, for the first few minutes after I start bleeding not as much. The studs hurt and she stops lube in favor of blood."

Eldar, "What happens if you do not show?"

The prisoner, "She gets angry. She does it 3 times as long the next time she sees me."

Eldar, "What would she do if she thought you were captured?"

The prisoner, "Nothing I'm under a geas spell! I cannot talk about it, her, or Lord Barimus."

Eldar, "Anything protecting the codebooks?"

The prisoner, "No only nobody ever goes in there."

Eldar, "What triggers your geas?"

The prisoner, "Saying Consort or Barimus."

Eldar, "What is your name?"

The prisoner, "Xantrau Slyttx."

Eldar, "Who made your ring?"

The prisoner, "Barimus spy in the human kingdom is the court wizard."

Eldar, "Does he have any spies in dwarven kingdoms?"

The prisoner, "Not that I know."

Eldar, "Is the spy in human court Drow?"

The prisoner, "No human."

Eldar, "What kind of army does he have?"

The prisoner, "Giants, ogres, gnolls, orcs, and his son. Dragon on the Council of Nine."

Eldar, "All Red Dragons?"

The prisoner, "Yes."

Eldar, "Who's his non-dragon general."

The prisoner, "Do not know."

He signaled Charlemagne to come to him.

Eldar, "Now you're scared shitless someone will come in and force you to use one of those words so until you are ass fucked by that fake cock, you're deaf and mute. You will shit yourself and then shake for 10 minutes."

It starts smelling very bad.

He started walking quickly, He looked at the guard "He made a real mess in there."

He looked at Jarron, "Can you get us to the scribe's quarters?"

Jarron sighed, "It has been searched top to bottom."

Eldar looked at him, "This is far worse than we thought, we need to get there now!"

Jarron, "You going to tell me why?"